A research participant stitching within the College of Sydney’s local weather chamber. Credit score: Louise Cooper, College of Sydney
Garment employees face among the most precarious working circumstances on the planet and are more and more in danger from excessive warmth stress attributable to local weather change.
A brand new College of Sydney-led research reveals how easy, inexpensive interventions might provide important safety to these working in dangerously sizzling circumstances. Printed in The Lancet Planetary Well being, the research identifies low-cost and scalable methods that may scale back warmth stress and shield employee productiveness in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) sector—a $45 billion trade using over 4 million folks, most of them girls. It represents 80% of Bangladesh’s export income and is the fourth-largest garment exporter on the planet.
In Bangladesh’s RMG factories, indoor temperatures typically soar above 35°C and might attain as excessive as 40°C. Manufacturing halls are usually sizzling, humid, and poorly ventilated, with the fixed use of heat-generating equipment like irons and steamers making the air thick and stifling.
Employees spend as much as 12 hours a day, six days per week, in these circumstances, which—over time—can take a substantial toll, inflicting dehydration, warmth exhaustion, and a noticeable drop in vitality and focus, placing employees’ well being and well-being at severe danger. Most employees are paid by the piece, making a tough trade-off: decelerate to remain secure within the warmth—and earn much less—or preserve velocity and danger severe sickness.
“Garment workers in Bangladesh already endure some of the most precarious and grueling conditions in the world. With rising temperatures, it’s only getting worse,” stated the research’s senior writer, Director of the Warmth and Well being Analysis Heart on the College of Sydney, Professor Ollie Jay. “Without immediate, scalable, and affordable cooling solutions, millions face a serious and growing risk of heat-related illness, exhaustion, and long-term harm.”
To deal with this, Professor Jay’s staff seemed on the results of assorted cooling options to air-con on employee warmth pressure in a simulated Bangladesh garment manufacturing unit inside a climate-controlled chamber, replicating the most well liked circumstances recorded inside a typical manufacturing unit in Dhaka.
They examined easy cooling interventions resembling insulated reflective roofs, electrical followers, and free entry to ingesting water, and benchmarked them in opposition to air-con and no cooling in any respect.
They discovered:
With out cooling interventions, warmth stress diminished work output by round 12% to fifteen%. These losses had been partly recovered by way of the staff’s sustainable cooling methods, which prioritized cooling the person as an alternative of altering the encircling setting.
A 2.5°C indoor temperature discount from an insulated, reflective white roof lowered core physique temperature, coronary heart charge, and dehydration danger.
Electrical fan use mixed with entry to ingesting water delivered comparable advantages, reclaiming a lot of the heat-related productiveness loss seen in high-intensity duties like ironing.
Cooling results had been extra pronounced in male individuals, highlighting the significance of reconsidering gender-specific duties and clothes in warmth mitigation methods.
“The findings offer practical, scalable solutions for factory owners seeking to improve working conditions without relying on air conditioning, which remains economically and environmentally unsustainable,” stated lead writer Dr. James Smallcombe, a post-doctoral analysis fellow within the Warmth and Well being Analysis Heart. “With Bangladesh’s RMG industry targeting a 30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, these low-resource options could offer a viable path forward for a sector under increasing pressure from both global demand and a changing climate.”
“The fashion industry has a moral and ethical imperative to reduce heat stress for workers and ensure basic provisions, such as access to clean drinking water. That includes both companies and factory owners. While air conditioning may help, it should not be seen as a silver bullet; instead, sustainable, affordable cooling solutions should be considered to protect workers’ health and well-being,” stated Dr. Smallcombe.
The complete outcomes counsel that enhancing constructing design and supporting employee hydration might develop into key pillars of local weather adaptation in world provide chains, defending each employees and enterprise continuity.
With out cooling interventions, employees face severe well being dangers and diminished productiveness—impacting each particular person and enterprise earnings. But, it additionally reveals that even small, science-based adjustments can result in important enhancements in well being, livelihoods, and the setting—a triple win for communities.
Whereas the environmental circumstances mirrored these noticed in Bangladesh, the findings are additionally related to different nations with massive ready-made garment industries, resembling India and Vietnam, the place excessive circumstances are additionally widespread. Bangladesh is well known as one of many world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, going through heightened dangers from sea-level rise, excessive climate, and warmth stress.
Extra data:
Sustainable cooling methods for employees within the ready-made garment manufacturing unit trade in Bangladesh underneath simulated excessive warmth: a randomised crossover trial, The Lancet Planetary Well being (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2025.101317
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Garment factories are sweltering, and these easy fixes might maintain employees secure (2025, October 20)
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